Descent Into Darkness
by Silent Amethyst
Summary: What may have pushed Shego over the edge and cause her darker side to take over her? How did she meet Drakken? What was her previous life like? The answers are just one click away.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The party started like any other would. A bunch of family and friends came early to bring a special dish of their own or to bring small gifts. Some came early because they had to leave early. Nobody knew it yet, but those people were fortunate they did.

At a large house that sat in the suburbs of Detroit, a going away party was being thrown for an average raven haired beauty named Shelia Go. The next day, Shelia would be heading for Upperton, Colorado where for the next four years she would be attending a university and earning a degree in teaching. It was very likely she would never be coming back home.

Shelia was actually looking forward to leaving. For all her life she had been the smart (both with her mouth and her mind) kid. She wasn't smart enough to skip a grade, but she was still an A+ student in all the advanced class available for her grade. That didn't exactly keep people away from her though, although it didn't help.

It was how people saw her treat others that even dared to say a word to her about how "uncool" she was or something like that, especially in junior high and elementary school. High school hadn't been so bad because you'd here people saying mean things and getting into fights all the time. The point was, everyone was scared of her because if you made her mad, you'd be paying for it and it wouldn't be pretty.

Besides that, Shelia was a good girl, and only her family and the few friends she had actually been able to make new that.

Now she was moving on, and would no longer be surrounded by people who cowered in her presence when all she wanted to do was get to know you. It frustrated her, and now she had the chance to get as far away from it as she could. She could start anew, make a change with her life, and she was more than ready.

Shelia made her way down the stairs and walked around the house just to see who all was there. She wasn't surprised when she noticed all the eyes that were watching her; after all, she was good looking.

She was wearing a short, strapless, light green sundress with her hair up in a pony, making it seem she was showing off more than she actually was. On her chest rested a diamond shaped emerald that hung onto a silver chain that was about an inch thick. To any normal person, she was simply one word…beautiful.

As she made her way around the house and the backyard, she smiled modestly; basking in all the attention she was being given.

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Most people had left by now, heading home because it was getting late. The only ones remaining were distant family members that didn't get to visit very often. Even those would be leaving soon though, because it was now bordering midnight.

Shelia knew that her three younger brothers would be forced to bed as soon as the last person left. Hector would probably do so too, but then again, maybe not. She just didn't know. Either way there was still on last thing she wanted to do with them before she left tomorrow morning.

Leaving behind her place next to the table where the abundant amount of gourmet foods had been (there were still plenty more for leftovers for at least two days), Shelia went on a search for them.

Melvin was rather easy to spot. Along with her, he was hanging out outside, although off by himself. From where she was, it was hard to tell what he was doing, but it looked like he was playing one of his video games.

_How could a sixteen year old__ be so obsessed with video games?_

Quietly she made her way up to him and sat down in a chair. "Hey, what's up?"

Melvin wasn't in any hurry to reply. "Nothing." He said still concentrating on his video game. There were a few more moments of silence until he paused his game and set it down on the table. "You came here for more than to just ask me that didn't you?"

"I was wondering if you could help me find Hector and the twins. I want to do something before I leave in the morning." She asked, looking out in the distance as she stopped talking.

Melvin looked at her funny, not understanding what she meant. He followed where her eyes were looking and finally got it. The place wasn't used much anymore, but there were a lot of special memories connected with it. Of course, being as old as he was and being a guy, didn't really care if he went up there again, but this was for his sister, so he could compromise. "Fine." He said getting up and grabbing his game. "I'll meet you over there in a few." With that he walked away towards the house.

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About fifteen minutes later they had met up at the tree house rooted in the far corner of the yard.

Melvin had found Hector talking up a storm with one of their cousins who happened to be the same age as him. It took a while to pull him away, but he came eventually. Their cousin followed them outside, claiming she wanted to see Shelia before she left, but was quickly distracted by something or someone as soon as they were out the back door.

For Shelia it had been a piece of cake. The twins had been up in their room with there slightly older cousin, showing her something on the internet. Right about when she told the two boys what she wanted to do, their cousins' mom came in to get her so they could go.

After they all got up there in the tree house, everyone took their places, more out of habit than anything else. Years ago when the house had been built for them, they had chosen a spot that they were comfortable in and they kept it to this day. Wendell and Weston had taken the east window, Hector to the right of the opening in the floor, Melvin the corner opposite of the twins, and Shelia at the other window next to Melvin.

No one in the small space even said a word before deafening screams reached them from outside. All five siblings surround the twins' window and looked out to see what all the fuss was about. On the ground were a bunch of people running in every direction away from where they were. What they were screaming at made the five turn pale.

Hurtling right towards them was a multi-colored, egg-shaped meteor. It was too late for them to flee now. All they could do was huddle together in Melvin's corner, the farthest away they could get from the window, waiting for their doom.

There was a sudden crash, and pieces of wood falling every which direction, but that was it. The only thing that survived was the floorboard they were all laying sprawled out on.

Shelia didn't even have time to look around before a green cloud engulfed her body. Slowly and painfully, as her body somehow absorbed whatever it was in the green stuff, everything faded away into oblivion and she passed out. The last thing she saw was the same thing happening to her brothers. Struggling to get it out, she breather, "I'm sorry."

This was the beginning of the end.


	2. Part 1 Ah, the Memories

**Part One**

**Ah, the Memories**

A 20 year old (soon to be 21) raven-haired, mint colored beauty sat in front of the computer finishing off a book report for her English class. The assignment was due in a week, but she wanted to get it finished. It had only taken her two weeks to finish the book, and with it being assigned about a month ago, it had only taken her about a week to finish up the report. Finally, she would have a chance to rest.

Shelia Go was now well into her first semester of her Junior year of college. For the past three years Shelia had been working towards a degree in teaching and was now well on her way to achieving that goal. But she still wasn't happy. This wasn't where she wanted to be at this point in her life. She had been so close to reaching her dream… then everything went downhill.

After the comet had hit, calls and letters and news reports had been seemingly endless. Every week it seemed they were moving on to a new city, or even a new country for that matter. Scientists all around the world wanted to do tests on them, trying to make a new discovery and possibly give the five young people answers to what was actually happening to them.

About a year went by before they got any answers, whether or not they were accurate they did not know. Taking in what knowledge they gained of the unworldly substance(s) in the past months, the numerous amount of people who had been testing them came to a conclusion.

What had happened (in theory) was that the components that were in the cloud already contained a power in itself, namely, to enhance the foremost physical characteristics in the one/two persons. For Hector, it had been super strength; Shelia was force; Melvin could shrink (he was tall) or grow; and the twins, since they had shared a cloud, to duplicate.

Now, they could still use their abilities at their original normalcy. If they wanted to enhance it though, they had to turn on their "glow" by simply thinking of it. Their glow was simply identified by a color, specifically, the color of the cloud they had been surrounded by when the comet hit. Hector's was blue, Melvin's violet, Wendell and Weston's red, and Shelia's green.

Something had happened though when the enhancing powers were being absorbed into Shelia and Melvin's DNA. For some reason it had also changed their physical features. Now Shelia had mint-green skin and very dark green hair (dark enough to still be considered black), and Melvin had lavender colored skin and red violet hair as well as purple eyes. Shelia's eye color hadn't changed because her eyes were already green. The best the scientists could come with for this was that some kind of mutation had taken place during the process of the powers being "installed" into the DNA.

That had happened three years ago now. Because of the events that had taken place though she wasn't able to attend college where she had wanted to, at Upperton University. In fact, she wasn't even able to attend any college that year because of the busy schedule thrown onto her and her brothers'. Even when that was over and done with, she had to stay in Detroit with her family. So rather than being a Senior like she would have been, she was a Junior instead.

Shelia looked over her document one last time, fixing any mistakes she might have made and doing spell check so that she could be sure that it was as perfect as it could be. She had the printer start printing out her papers and headed downstairs to have some time to herself.

What made that even better was that she would actually be alone. For the weekend her four brothers went to some ski resort along the border of Canada, leaving her with the house to herself. What she planned on doing was starting up a fire in the fire place, light up some candles, and pop in some movies while snacking on a bowl full of popcorn.

Shelia headed for the kitchen first. Taking out a pack of popcorn from the pantry, she took the cellophane wrapping off of it and unfolded it, then placing it into the microwave for two and a half minutes. While it was cooking, she went in the living room and put a video tape into the VCR (it's currently the year 2000, so DVD wasn't widely popular yet). Once she stood up to head back into the kitchen, she froze up, all other thoughts leaving her mind.

What had caught her attention was a picture sitting on the top of the armoire that the television sat in. It was one she hated to look at now, but Hector had insisted that they keep it.

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The sky was gray and gloomy, the air humid, explaining why all the ceiling fans in the house had been on all night. Just the image that it cast foretold that today was going to be a bad day once again.

Shelia grudgingly got out from under her covers (no matter how warm it was she like to curl up under them) and sat on the edge of her bed looking around. Something didn't seem right. It felt like one of those movies where some kind of suspenseful music is playing and you know something bad is about to happen, only here, there was no music. It was completely quiet. Carefully, she got up, grabbing her green silk robe from the back of her desk chair and put it on, then went out into the hallway, quietly walking by all the doors , knowing that sleeping people still occupied them.

Fortunately today and for the rest of the week her and her brothers didn't have to leave home to have more tests taken on them and they were all taking advantage of that. But her parents should have been up and about fixing up breakfast or cleaning up the house. It shouldn't have been completely quiet.

A shudder went through her as she made her way down the stairs, thinking of all the possibilities of what could have happened to them. She hoped that they had gone out somewhere or that they were still in bed, but the possibilities were endless.

She reached the kitchen, finding nobody in there. She made her way through, inspecting everything, making sure everything was still in its place. She was about move on and look elsewhere when she saw a note sitting on the counter, and something paper clipped to the back of it. Shelia picked it up gently, as if it could fall apart at the slightest touch. She started to read it, making her way to the couch in the den and sitting on the couch as she did.

_Hector, Shelia, Melvin, Wendell and Weston,_

_We're sorry we didn't stay until you all woke up to tell you this, but if we did, there was no way we'd be able to do this. We all are very proud of you kids and how you're handling all this change under such short notice. We are ashamed to admit that we can't handle it thoug__h. Both your father and I hope for the best for you guys and that in time the answers you need will come to you. We also hope that you are all still able to achieve your __goals and__ make the best of yourselves. To help you for the next couple of months we left you a check for $50,000. Again, we are deeply sorry, but this is something we had to do. We love you all and hope that in due time once all this has passed that we can see you again. Goodbye._

_Sincerely, Mom and Dad_

Shelia sat on the couch, staring blankly out the window that revealed the road that they lived on, that cars would drive down every few minutes, they road that her parents drove down earlier that morning, leaving possibly forever. Leaving them to fend for themselves during a transition that would change their lives forever. Leaving when their kids needed them the most.

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Shelia didn't notice her hands were glowing when she took her eyes off of the hated family portrait that was taken during the middle of her Senior year of high school. Every time she saw it she was taken back to that horrible morning. It was their fault that she couldn't go to Upperton. It was their fault that she had to stay behind with Hector and help take care of her their younger brothers.

Before she would have the urge again to tear the picture out of the frame and tear it up into shreds them burn it, she went into the kitchen to get her popcorn out of the microwave. To help her keep her mind off of it, she adjusted it so that the picture faced down.

Making herself comfortable on the couch, she turned the movie on and started snacking on the popcorn.

The movie wasn't even halfway over when she fell asleep, exhausted from all the responsibilities she had taken on lately. She fell into a deep sleep thinking of how easy it would be to just leave and get a place of her own, doing pretty much anything she wanted when she wanted.

**AN:** well, there's chapter one. this chapter was intended to fill in the details of what happened in the intervening years between this chapter and the prologue. well, hope you liked it.


	3. Part 2 He did What?

**Chapter 2**

**He What?!**

Shelia sat on the barstool, holding her head up with her arms that were resting on the counter. She slowly shook her head from side to side as if saying no to someone. As a matter of fact, she was, only it was out of disbelief as well.

"You couldn't do any better than that?" she asked tiredly.

"Well, it's not like I have anything to fall back on to get a better job. I don't exactly have any experience in the work force either."

"But a cashier at some… some tex-mex fast food restaurant that just opened? They couldn't have given you a job in the back where they make all of the overly greasy burritos?"

"They're not burritos, they're chimeritos." He corrected.

"Whatever, same thing. That still doesn't answer my question, Hector." Shelia was starting to get annoyed and she was glad that Melvin and the twins were in bed (or messing around in their rooms).

"No, they needed me to work in the front. They already had enough people hired to work in the back." Hector was now getting just as upset as Shelia. He expected her to be happy that he had finally stepped up and decided to help out the family in some way, not the opposite.

"Then you could have gone somewhere else! Do you think working as a cashier is going to pay you enough to support all of us? Did you think that mom and dad's money was going to last us forever? Sure, everything we have is paid off, but there are still bills we have to pay, food to buy and other neccesties. Did you ever think one second about that when you went to get an application?" Shelia said, growing louder and louder as she went on.

Up until now, Hector had remained calm, at least somewhat, throughout this whole discussion. But now, he had had enough. "Well, I don't see you doing anything to help in that department, so why are you criticizing me for at least trying to make some money? If you aren't satisfied, why don't you go out and get a job yourself?"

Shelia's hands now had a faint glow around them. She stood up and pointed at her brother, all the while her glow becoming brighter. Angrily and with gritted teeth, she said, "You know as well as I do how busy I am. I take care of this house, I make every single meal we eat, and I even manage all our money so we can afford the things we need. On top of all of that, I go to school just so we can have some kind of hope in the future! So don't you dare bring that up against me again, because I can just walk right out that door and leave all of you to fend for yourselves very easily. And don't you think for one second I wouldn't." Shelia finished yelling at him.

Her hands now wreathed in a bright, fiery, green glow, she stormed up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door shut so hard it made the whole house shake like a small earthquake had just hit it.

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That event had taken place about two years ago now, although it seemed like it had just happened yesterday it was so fresh in her memory. The shaking from her slamming the door did startle the sleeping occupants, but they knew not to say anything about it, for fear that it would happen again or worse, they were the reasons their older sister was slamming the door that hard. They did ask eventually though what had happened that night, but only after they were sure the hard feelings between the two older siblings about the subject had passed.

Shelia was working around in the kitchen, making dinner for herself and three younger brothers. Hector was gone at work, doing his job as the newly appointed assistant manager at Bueno Nacho.

It struck her how true her words to Hector about making every meal they ate were. She was pretty much the only one in the house that had any idea how to cook now. Before it was always their mother, but now that she was gone the duty had been placed upon her. For one, she just plain didn't trust Wendell and Weston in the kitchen, for fear they would make more of a mess than anything. She couldn't even trust them doing the dished, knowing that if she let them they'd be buying a new dish set every week. Melvin was hardly home now, usually out lat hanging out with his friends. That, or he was just too lazy to do anything and expected the food to be brought for him (he didn't care who brought it, as long as it wasn't him). As for Hector, he was also gone a lot, but when it did fall upon him to take care of dinner, he always got something that was take-out.

For tonight, Shelia had decided to keep it simple by making spaghetti. She had a presentation she needed to finish by Friday before winter break and didn't want to spend a whole lot of time making something big that would make an even bigger mess.

Dumping the noodles out of the colander and back into the pot they had previously been boiling in, she mixed in the red meat sauce with it. When she finished, she grabbed an oven mitt and picked up the pot with the pasta with one hand and with the other picked up the bowl of salad, and then went into the dining room to set everything down on the table.

"Wendell, Weston, time for dinner." She said as she passed by the den where the two boys were playing a video game. A random thought came to her after they both replied to her simultaneously and started putting things away. They were almost twelve now but were about the same size as an eight or nine year old. She just put it off for them being born as preemies, since they were born two months before they were actually due.

Shelia went up the stairs and yelled as loud as she could to get Melvin's attention. He was probably on the computer right now IMing his friends and had his headphones on with the volume as loud as possible. When she was given no reply, she groaned and went up the rest of the way to his door, banging on it as hard as she could.

"Melvin! Take off those stupid headphones of yours and come downstairs! It's time for dinner!" She yelled as loud as she could.

When she didn't get an immediate reply her hands started glowing and she was about ready to blow that door open. Just as she was about to she heard a muffled sound come through the door that said, "I'll be down in a minute."

Satisfied she went back downstairs at sat down at the table where the twins were already devouring their food. Right as she was about to take her first bite Melvin came into the room and sat down across her, quietly putting food onto his plate and eating it.

"Nice of you to join us for once." She said hoping to start up a conversation.

"I was looking up some stuff on the net." He replied not even bothering to look up at her.

"What kind of stuff?" She asked, suddenly curious. Melvin was never on the Internet looking up stuff unless it was for a research paper, but he had already graduated from high school and hadn't moved on to college so that wasn't an option.

"Probably costumes." Said Weston.

"No, I wasn't." Melvin replied with a glare.

"Yea," said Wendell, ignoring Melvin. "He probably wants to make sure that Hector hasn't been thinking of getting some ugly costume for all of us."

"Be quiet." Melvin said a little more harshly than before. He leaned in a little closer to them and whispered so that Shelia couldn't hear, "Shelia doesn't know about that yet, so don't start something."

Shelia had over heard him anyway, and was now completely intrigued, if not a little worried. Hector and thinking was not a good thing, at least in her eyes. "You know, I can here you, so you might as well tell me what you're talking about now."

Both twins looked over to Melvin who was holding his hands up and shaking his head no. Whatever it was, he either 1) didn't want her to know and find out for herself, 2) he knew that the reaction was not going to be pretty, or 3) somewhere in between. Either way, it was obvious it was something he wanted to avoid.

"I'll get you guys ice cream if you tell me what it is you're hiding from me." Shelia said with a sweet tone. Both boys looked to her then to Melvin, who was shaking his head even more furiously. Then they looked at each other, nodded, and looked to Shelia.

"Hector told Melvin he was planning to start a town-saving thing." Started Wendell.

"We only over heard and Melvin caught us." Weston said.

"He was telling about how he was going to somebody to have a tower built out on the lake and how we were going to have special names…" Wendell exclaimed.

"Yea, and don't forget about the costumes. Isn't it cool? We're gonna be superheroes!" Weston finished.

Shelia sat there looking like someone had slapped her across the face, staring at nothing in particular. Silence filled the air as both twins looked at her like they were expecting something and Melvin had his hand covering his face and was leaning on the table. A low growl escaping from Shelia broke the silence.

Throwing her fork down onto the plate, which had been halfway to her mouth just moments ago, Shelia picked up her plate and put it in the sink. On her way back out she grabbed a coat, her purse, and the keys and walked out the door. No words were said as they three boys watched her leave.

It wasn't until they could here the car start up, screech out of the driveway, and speed down the road that any words were exchanged between the three siblings still sitting at the table.

"See what you did? You go on and blab and she gets mad. Why didn't you listen me?" Melvin said angrily.

"How do you know she's mad? Maybe she went to get our ice cream." Said Weston.

Melvin groaned. "Am I the only one who heard the screeching tires and roaring motor going down that road out there? Was I the only one who could see her hands glowing when she left? Maybe that's why I know she's mad, and we're the ones to blame."

"Oh." They both said simultaneously, slouching back in their seats, any thoughts of getting there reward lost. One of them turned there head towards where Shelia had been sitting then turned to Melvin.

"You don't think she's going to leave, do you?" Wendell asked, worry evident in his voice.

"Yea, she's been mad like this before, and she's threatened to do that too." Weston said with just as much concern as his twin brother.

Melvin had an urge to say something along the lines of _I wouldn't put it past her_, but thought the better of it, not wanting to worry his brothers even more than they already were. "I don't know."

With that the twins made their way upstairs to their rooms and Melvin gathered all the plates and went to do the dishes, hoping to stay on his sisters' good side by doing so. As he did them, he was hoping that he wouldn't have to end up doing this on a regular basis because they were missing one more member of their family. Secretly, he admitted to himself that without her everything in their life would be a chaotic mess.

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Shelia didn't have any idea what to think at the moment. All she knew was that she was angry, upset, and frustrated, and all at one person. The one person who she was never closest to, and not because of age, but because of completely different personalities. He was laid back and went with the flow, not really thinking of what he was doing. She was completely the opposite.

How could he do that to her? He goes and tells everyone what he's planning to do and then without telling her goes ahead with it? The money issue did take a part in her being upset, but what had gotten to her the most was that he hadn't even considered her feelings on the matter.

When was Hector going to tell her? Even more, was he even going to? Was he just going to wait until everything was ready and throw this all on her then? Was he going to pass it on to someone else to tell her, trying to avoid yet another argument? Was she really that bad?

Shelia drove around trying to figure out the answers to those questions, but to no avail. Just not knowing was frustrating her even more than she already was, and the annoying pitter patter of the rain hitting the car was helping much either. Quickly, she found someplace sheltered from the rain to park and sat in the car for a while,

There was no doubt in her mind that the next time she was alone with Hector, she was going to give it too him, but for now, all she wanted to do was calm down before she went back home.


	4. Part 3 Busted!

**Chapter 3**

**Busted!**

It was about ten in the evening when Shelia got back home from her drive. Just as she was expecting to see, Hector was in the living room watching the television. He didn't pay her any mind as she quietly walked in the room, standing right inside the entrance, trying to figure out how she was going to go about this. It surprised her how calm she was, and sort of hoped she would stay that way. In the back of her mind though, she knew that wasn't going to happen.

Out of mercy, she let him finish what he was watching until the next commercial came on. Then she grabbed the remote from his hand and turned off the TV, standing in front of it so he could see her.

"Hey, what was that for?"

Shelia set the remote on the top of the television set she was standing in front of and crossed her arms. "Would you happen to have any idea why I'm upset with you right now?" she asked.

Hector looked around trying to avoid looking directly at his sister. He glanced briefly at her and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I haven't been doing anything."

"Oh, really?" she said acting shocked. "I seem to remember the twins' telling me about something over dinner. What was is again? Something about costume, or maybe it was about a tower…" Shelia went on seemingly trying to remember what it was, holding a finger to her lips and tapping them.

Despite his being nearly three times as big as his sister, Hector seemed to shrink three feet. Shelia knew he knew that he was cornered and that there was no way out. Still, he stood his ground. "I… I still don't know where you're going with this." He stuttered. He knew he was in trouble.

"I'm sorry; let me help you a little more." Shelia walked around the coffee table and leaned in toward him. "I remember something about going by pseudonyms, and town-saving. Ooh, how about using our powers," she flared up her hand and put it mere centimeters from his face. "As a reason to become superheroes?"

"Okay, okay! Yes, I was thinking about having a tower built out on the lake, having suits made for each of us, and using our powers to become superheroes!" he spilled out like a child who was confessing after doing something wrong. "Happy now?"

Shelia's hand dropped to her side and she turned on her heals walking a few feet away from him and then turning around once again to face him. "Am I happy now?" she asked, her eyes looking as if they were glowing brilliantly with a bright green fire. "Ohh, I am far away from being happy right now. Just when were you going to tell me about this? Why did you feel it was more important to tell them," she said pointing up the stairs to tell him who she meant, "what you working on instead of me?"

"I didn't say anything because I knew you would turn down the idea almost as soon as I said it. I was going to tell you eventually."

"When's eventually? When you have everything finished and I'd have no say in the matter?"

Shelia's reply to that was silence. That pretty much answered that she had probably guessed correctly. "How would you know if I would have reacted that way?" Hector raised an eyebrow at that. "Maybe I would have agreed with you, or given some suggestions of my own. But no, you have to go and assume that I'm going to respond a certain way and try to avoid it by just going ahead with what you have planned."

"Well, I am the oldest, so I can make the final decision over what we do or not." Hector muttered to himself, and then something about Shelia acting more like his mother than little sister.

Shelia growled, "Well it's hard not to act like a mother when I feel like I'm constantly babysitting all four of you! And don't give me the 'I'm older' excuse either. Yes, you may be oldest among the five of us, but that doesn't mean you're the smartest or make the wisest decisions. We can't just go off spend every penny we have whenever we get some silly idea in our head, Hector. Things don't work that way anymore. What we use now is going to affect us in the future. It's not like some cut you get on your knee that will heal itself to the point it looks like nothing ever happened. It's not going to go away." She paused, still glaring at her brother. He looked scared, now that the possible consequences of what he had done were brought to mind. Shelia didn't take any pity on him. He deserved to feel that way.

"Look at me." She commanded. "It's time to grow up, Hector. We can't act like little kids in a candy shop with our parents' credit card anymore. We're on our own now, like it or not, and we have to start acting grown up. Part of that means that we need be able to talk to each other, not hide things. Now, I want to know, how far have you actually gotten with this idea of yours? It may not be too late to turn it around."

Hector visibly gulped and would not meet Shelia's eyes.

"Tell me!" she yelled, igniting her hands.

"Th…they…they've already star…started construction on the to… tower a few we…weeks ago." Hector stuttered under his sisters' menacing glare, and even more so threatening hands.

For a moment it looked as if Shelia were completely surrounded by green fire. Then without a word she stomped up the stairs and slammed the door. As soon as it was closed she started rummaging through her walk-in closet, taking out an old backpack that she hadn't used since she was in high school. Throwing it onto her bed, she took a few tops off the hangers and stuffed them into the bag, doing the same with the pairs of sweats and jeans and other necessities she had grabbed out of her dresser. Before zipping it up, she went into her bathroom and grabbed brush as well as her make-up (which consisted of mascara, lipstick, and eye shadow, she had given up on trying to make herself look like she had normal skin), and tossed it on top of everything else.

After putting on a pair of tennis shoes and grabbing her school bag and the bag sitting on her bed, she walked out of her bedroom, grabbing the keys out of the pocket of the coat she hadn't bothered to take off earlier, and walking out the door leaving Hector watching her go.

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Shelia set her things on the bed and fell back on it, her head just barely touching the pillows. She knew that there was still more that needed to be talked about, but she wanted to leave while she was still thinking straight. There was no telling what may have happened if she stayed, and she didn't really care to find out. Still, she wanted to scare her brother a little by just walking out the door, making him wonder if she would ever come back or not.

While she had been putting together her things, she had decided that she'd treat herself to something nice, so Shelia drove to a place about an hour north of Detroit called Port Huron, which sat along Lake Huron. It was a relatively small city compared to Detroit but it was nice. The place she was staying at sat along the lake, allowing any visitors at the hotel to spend time out on the beach in the warmer months. Of course, it was only nearing March and was still pretty cold out, so she wouldn't be spending any time out there. There were other things to consider though, such as the spa downstairs or in-room massages. Another thing she would be taking full advantage of the next week too was having her meals brought to her instead of having to make them herself.

It was going to be very hard leaving this place.

Shelia suddenly realized how tired she actually was once she had lied down. After all, it was starting to near midnight and she had been up since six that morning so she could get to her classes on time. Before she fell asleep, she got up and got ready for bed. She had gotten as far as getting dressed before she realized she had forgotten a toothbrush. It didn't take her long to decide that she would just walk down to the little general store down the street tomorrow morning instead of going right now, tiredness over claiming her.

After what seemed like such a long day, she curled up in the big, soft, warm bed and instantly fell asleep.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

What just happened? What had he done?

Hector sat down on the sofa in the den, the same one he had found Shelia sitting down on the day their parents left. Just as she had done, he stared out the window at the empty road his sister had just drove down what seemed an eternity ago now. The only difference is that he wasn't holding a letter in his hands.

She had threatened to do this before, but part of him always thought that she didn't really mean it, even though she said she did. To him she was just saying that to scare them, that it was just how she handled her anger. Now he had messed up, and just like she had always said she would, she left. Hector kept trying to reassure himself, saying that it was only temporary, but he just couldn't make himself believe it no matter how hard he tried.

What was going to happen to them now? He had to admit that Shelia was the one that kept them going, always thinking ahead, doing her best to ensure that they could have some kind of hope. She could have very easily moved nearly half-way across the country three years ago like she had planned to once she graduated high school, but instead she stayed behind for their best interests. It wasn't until she walked out that door almost an hour ago that he realized she had sacrificed so much for her remaining family and that he had taken it for granted and ruined it.

"What have I done?" he asked himself.

He saw a purple light coming from behind the couch growing taller until it finally stopped. "Messed up our life, I'm guessing."

"I don't need this right now, Melvin." Hector said, never taking his eyes away from the window.

"Was this hero thing really so important to you that you were willing to risk losing your sister… our sister?"

There was silence before an answer was given. "I didn't think she really meant what she said." Hector replied.

Melvin groaned. "Since when has Shelia said something that she didn't mean? Did you ever really think that little of her?"

Their was no answer. Quietly, two other figures of the same size came into the room and walked up beside Melvin. They too were silent for a couple of moments before they both said, "We're sorry we told her. It was our fault."

Hector turned to face his two youngest brothers. "It's not your fault. This was going to happen eventually. It was just a matter of time."

One of the twins spoke up. "What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know. We'll talk about it in the morning. Just get back in bed for now."

As quietly as they came in, the two left, leaving only him and Melvin. "You know, I wouldn't worry too much. She'll be back eventually. I think all she needed was some time to herself." Melvin said.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, out of the four of us, I am closest to her. Also if she really meant it, she would have said something instead of just leaving. Just trust me with this." With that, Melvin walked out of the room.

What were they going to do? Melvin seemed to think Shelia would come back, so maybe they wouldn't have to do anything. Either way, they would have to be ready for whatever happened. How they would go about it was lost to him, since he never really had thought about it before. Now wasn't the time to try and figure out though. It was late and he was tired. After a few more minutes of looking out the window, he headed upstairs for bed.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---


	5. Part 4 Relief

Decent into Darkness: Chapter 4

**Decent into Darkness: Chapter 4: Relief**

To say Shelia was tweaked would be an understatement.

It had been about a month ago when she walked out of the house to cool off after a 'discussion' she had with Hector concerning his (in his mind) brilliant idea of using their powers to fight evil. Doing so had scared him out of his mind, fearing that she was really leaving for good, and that was just what she had intended to do: scare him. Just as she had expected, it worked as her family had related to her by their warm welcoming and going on about how worried they had been. The only thing she was able to say in answer was to not make her do it again, because next time there may be no coming back. They all nodded there consent.

Now she was seriously considering doing just that again.

She and Hector were heading on there way back home after a meeting with the construction manager that was looking over the construction of the tower out on the lake. They had left Melvin to watch the twins while they were gone. It was probably a good thing right about now too since Shelia would have likely freaked them out with the way she was driving. She was already freaking her older brother out.

As could be assumed, the meeting did not go well. Shelia did not hear what she wanted, and the man they were speaking to would have been halfway to the nearest hospital right now if it weren't for Hector.

_**Earlier in the office…**_

"What!" Shelia screamed.

"I'm sorry Miss Go, but I cannot have construction stopped now. It has been nearly two months since construction started. The foundation has already been laid, and considering it's out in the middle of a lake, it's much more expensive than it would be on land. If such were the case, I would be more than willing to help you out." The man across the desk replied.

Shelia stood up, shaking in fury. The desk sitting between her and the man they were talking to was starting to look more and more like an obstacle keeping her from what she wanted to attack. "Take that back." She said between clenched teeth.

Hector sat to the side, fearing the worst was to come. If things got out of hand, he knew that he'd have to step in and make interference. The look in his sisters eyes told him that if the right words weren't said soon, he would have no choice but to do so. The man's next words made Hector wince. It was obvious he had no idea of the power that Shelia had.

"I'm sorry, but, there is nothing we can do now. If you had come to me about this about a month ago, there would be a greater possibility of stopping the construction, but we are past that point. I'm…"

He was interrupted as the desk was lifted up and tossed to the side, hitting the wall and making a dent. Hector was surprised it hadn't actually gone through. Then he turned back to the situation at hand.

Shelia was slowly making her way towards the man that was staring at her in wide eyed shock, so much so he wasn't able to move. She held her hands up to her sides, both of them glowing a bright green that could have lighted the room if it were dark. She leaned over until her face was mere millimeters from his, her eyes seeming to burn just as brightly as her hands, boring holes right through his skull. Once again, she growled through clenched teeth, "Do you want to run that by me one more time?"

Another thing that became obvious with the man's next words was that he took things literally. He had actually thought she didn't get it.

"We cannot do anything about your problem."

With that, Shelia started going about the room, destroying anything and everything. The fake plant that had been sitting in the corner looked like a fire had hit it, all the leaves gone and the wood still smoking. Frames that held pictures of golf courses were tossed to the ground, the glass broken and all over the floor and the framework cracked. She flipped the chairs over and knocked over a bookshelf. When she was finished she went back over to the man, raising her hand ready to make her blow.

But just as she was about to, strong arms wrapped around her whole body, she was kicking and screaming like a little kid not getting what she wanted as Hector carried her out of the room, leaving the manager shaking and terrified in his chair. All the commotion had attracted the attention of everyone else in the office building and they were watching as a large man with glowing blue hands carried out an angry young woman who was trying to break free of his grasp out to the parking lot.

By the time they reached the car the kicking and screaming had ceased. Hector let Shelia go and she turned around to face him. She looked just as angry as she had a few minutes ago, but no words were said.

"Give me the keys." She said, holding her hand out.

"I don't think that…"

"GIVE ME THE KEYS!"

Hector fished through his pocket and handed her the keys.

"Sis…"

"What?" Shelia asked angrily, taking her eyes off the road to glare at her brother.

"Look out!" he said pointing out the window.

Shelia turned her attention back to the road ahead and saw she was about to run into someone. She came to a screeching halt, causing both siblings to move forward off their seats momentarily. She glanced at the rearview mirror and was thankful to see that no one was behind them. Breathing deeply, she motioned the car forward.

"I'm sorry about getting us in this whole mess. I should have come to you about this in the first place." Hector apologized, looking down at his lap as he did so.

"You should be." She replied coldly, keeping her eyes ahead. "This _is_ all your fault."

Silence.

"So, what were you going to do to him?" Hector asked nervously.

Shelia swerved into the other lane as she sped up and got in front of the car that was previously in front of them. "Nothing fatal if that's what you're asking."

"That's… reassuring, I guess. But that wasn't what I was asking. What exactly were you going to do?"

"What's it to you?"

"I don't know. I was just curious." Hector leaned against the passenger door and watched as the speed meters needle kept going higher, trying his best to contain his anxiety. Then he looked over at the gas meter. "You know… um—"

"What is it now?" Shelia interrupted, once again glaring over at her brother, clearly annoyed.

"I was just going to suggest that maybe you should stop at the gas station—"

She interrupted again. "Why, so we can waste more of our money?"

"No," Hector said getting a little annoyed himself. "If you would just be patient and let me finish, I was going to say so we could get more gas for the car. It's running low."

Shelia glanced down at the meter before looking back up. "We'll be fine. We're almost home."

_Five minutes later…_

"THAT IS IT! I HAVE HAD IT TODAY!" Shelia screamed before in a non-gentle way opening the door and getting out of the car. Before slamming it shut, she yelled back, "I'm walking home!" With that Shelia walked in the direction of their home.

Hector sat in silence for a few minutes thinking about… nothing really, just staring blankly out the window as his sisters' figure faded away. Maybe five minutes passed before he got out of the car that was stopped in the middle of the street (fortunately it wasn't a busy street so any cars that needed to get by could do so easily) and moved it to the curb before going up to one of the houses that had an open garage door. Outside was a man probably in his mid thirties doing yard work.

"Excuse me, sir?"

The man turned around and looked up at Hector. "Can I help you?"

"Umm, yes. Could you help me in getting my car back to my house? My sister kind of left me on my own to take care of it myself. It's not that far away, only a couple of blocks from here."

The man got up from his knees and wiped the dirt on his hands off onto his sweats. "Sure, I'll help you. I could use a little break any how." He held out his hand towards Hector. "My name's Dylan."

"Hector." Hector replied shaking Dylan's hand.

They started towards the car.

"So, why'd your sister leave you? We're you gonna make her push it or something?"

"Oh no, no. I would have done that myself, no questions asked." Hector said shaking his head. "No, she's just been having a bad day."

After a while Shelia didn't even pay attention to where she was going. She didn't know and nor did she care. She'd get home eventually. Besides, the walk was helping her to cool off a little.

In a sudden rush of anger, frustration, and a bunch of other emotions she didn't care to name, she screamed out towards the sky as loud as she could and started throwing green balls of fire up into the sky where they dispersed into the air mush like fireworks. When she was done, she felt a whole lot better. It was just… just…

She plopped down onto the bench that she had walked up to and leaned over putting her face into her hands, rubbing her eyes and trying to keep herself from crying. _Why is this happening to me? What is it that I did wrong? What in my life went wrong?_ Shelia wondered to herself over and over.

Shelia looked out towards the playground where a little girl with voluminous black hair tied back with a white ribbon was running away from her parents towards the play structure, where a small group of kids where walking up to meet her. Once they met somewhere in the middle and joined the little girl into the group a few moments passed where they were talking to each other. At the sound of an ice cream truck coming down the street, they all started running towards it, taking money out of there pockets as they did so. All the while, Shelia kept her eyes on the little girl and let her mind take a trip down memory lane…

_**15 years earlier…**_

"Can I go play daddy?" Shelia asked between licks of the mint chocolate chip ice cream he had bought for her. "I promise I won't get dirty."

He nodded his consent. "Go ahead, honey."

"Ya!" she said jumping up and walking in the direction of the playground, not wanting to lose her treat. She made her way up to a group of girls playing jump rope on the sidewalk, licking away at her ice cream cone. They stopped playing when they noticed her presence.

"Can I play with you guys?" she asked innocently.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure." They said in unison. One of the girls that were turning the rope offered the handle to her. "Here, you wanna turn it?"

"Ok." Shelia answered happily, taking the handle from the girls' hand. It wasn't long before they were all happily singing Ice Cream Soda as the blonde girl that had offered her end of the rope to Shelia jumped. There game was rudely interrupted when a boy with brown hair that was about two years older than them tripped the blonde girl. She fell down onto the concrete sidewalk started crying, holding her knee that had been cut.

"Hey! Say you're sorry! That was mean!" Shelia cried out, throwing the rope to the ground and pointing at the brown-haired boy.

In response the boy stopped laughing and turned his attention toward Shelia. "You wanna make me?" he threatened.

Shelia didn't say a word, but instead rose up her free hand and slapped him hard in the face, making him fall back a few steps holding his now bruised cheek while his posse stepped out of the way and all the girls gasped. He glared angrily at her, cracking his knuckles. "Fine, if that's how you want it, that's how you'll get it!" He started running towards her, his fist aiming for her face.

And all that it hit was air as Shelia ducked out of the way and swung her leg around, making the boy fall to the ground. She didn't stop there though. Just to make sure he stayed down, she kicked him in the back of the knees.

"OW!" he cried out as he grabbed at his knees in pain.

Shelia walked over in front of him and carefully kneeled down, bringing her face very close to his. "Say. You're. Sorry." She said in as low and menacing voice as her six year old voice could muster, her eyes seemingly throwing daggers at the now helpless boy.

He gulped as he stared into her eyes before crying out, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't do it ever again!"

Satisfied, Shelia nodded and helped the boy get up, keeping a firm grip on his wrist. "Before you go, I have one last thing for you…"

Before the boy had a chance to say anything, Shelia shoved what was left of her ice cream onto the boy's nose and then took the cone and dumped the melted ice cream into his hair before crushing the cone itself on his head. "That was for doing what you did in the first place!" she yelled at him before pushing him away from her and letting him run away. She turned to the blonde girl and kneeled down beside her.

"Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?"

The little voice took Shelia out of her reverie and she looked down in front of her. There stood the little girl, holding her ice cream in front of her mouth. It was just then that she realized what the little girl was asking and she noticed the tears that had come down her face earlier. "Yea, I'm okay." She said wiping the streaks from her cheeks. "I've just been having a bad day."

"Oh." She said quietly. "You want to tell me about it?"

Shelia couldn't help but suppress a smile and quiet chuckle. "No, it's a very long, complicated story. I don't think you would get it. Thanks for asking though."

The little girl glanced at her uneaten ice cream and then back at Shelia. "Here." She said offering the ice cream to Shelia. "I haven't licked it or anything yet, and it looks like you could use it more than me right now."

Surprise couldn't help but overcome Shelia. "I can't take it. It's your ice cream. You enjoy it."

"But I _want you_ to have it. Whenever I'm sad, my mommy gives me ice cream to make me feel better and always says that if I find something sad, to do something nice for them. Now I found you and you're sad and I want to do something nice for you, so I'm giving you my ice cream." The little girl stepped up closer to Shelia, still holding up the ice cream cone to her.

Shelia reached out and took the cone from the little girls' hand, protruding a smile from the little girl. "See, there you go. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"No, I guess it wasn't." Shelia replied. Now that she had obliged to the little girls demands, she expected for her to go run off and play with her friends. Instead though, she sat down next to Shelia on the bench. "You don't have to stay with me."

"I know, but I want to. I also want to make sure you eat that ice cream."

Shelia shrugged. What could it hurt? She started licking at the treat that the little girl next to her had given her.

"My name's Charity, what's your name?"

Shelia looked down at Charity. She had just met this little girl maybe five minutes ago and now here she was giving a complete stranger her ice cream and name. Still, she answered her question. "My names Shelia." She paused for a second. "How old are you?"

Charity held up her hand to her face and started counting with her fingers. "I'm five years old. How old are you?"

"I'm twenty one." Shelia answered, smiling. She was actually enjoying talking to this little girl.

Charity looked at her with her mouth hanging open. "Really? You're too pretty to be that old!"

"Thanks. You know some thing; you look just like I did when I was your age, so I bet you'll look just as pretty when you turn twenty one."

"I hope so. I don't think I'll have green skin though… why is your skin green Shelia?" Charity asked, genuinely curious.

And Shelia noticed this. She finished off the ice cream cone that Charity had given to her before turning to her. "You really want to know?"

"Yea!"

"It happened on the night my parents were throwing me a going away party because I was going to move away from here and go to college. Before the party ended and all my brothers went to bed though, I wanted to do one more thing with them since I would be leaving later on that night. So we all got together in this tree house that my dad built for us in our backyard when we were little… you with me so far?"

Charity nodded her head.

"Ok, so you see, me and my brothers were all up in the tree house when we started to hear screaming outside. So we crowded around the window to see what they were all screaming about, and you want to know what we saw?"

Charity nodded her head more vigorously this time.

"You won't believe it, but we saw this egg-shaped rainbow comet falling from the sky right toward our tree house. None of us had time to get out before it hit—"

"How are you still alive?" Charity asked, eyes opened as wide as saucers.

"What happened is that when it hit, it instantly turned into blue, red, purple, and green dust, and one of those colors came to each of my brothers and I. My older brother got the blue one, my younger brother got purple, and my twin brothers got red. Of course I got green."

"So did it turn all your guises skin those colors?"

Shelia shook her head. "Not all of us. Only me and my younger brother. For the others it only changed there hair color. But that's not all it did Charity."

Charity gasped. "What did it do?"

"It gave all of us the power to do this." Shelia answered as she ignited her hand.

Charity stared at Shelia's hand in awe. "How does it do that? What do they do?"

"We're able to turn them on and off mentally." Shelia said tapping at her head. "But for each of us, it allows us to do something different. My older brother, Hector, he's able to move really heavy things now. And then Melvin, my younger brother, he can shrink. Then the twins are able to make copies of themselves."

"What about you?"

"Me? I'm able to do this." She lighted her hand back up and threw the green ball of energy at the trash can, moving it some fifteen feet away.

"Whoa! That is so cool! Do it again!" Charity cried out excitedly.

"How about this?" Shelia said as she threw some blast up into the air and they exploded like fireworks, temporarily attracting everyone's attention. "What? I can't give a firework display?" Everyone went back about there own business after that and Shelia turned her attention back to Charity who then asked:

"So what happened after the comet hit your tree house?"

And surprisingly, Shelia found herself telling the sweet little girl her life's story… well at least part of it. She told it all the way up to that very day, and what had led to her coming to the park. By the time she was finished, Charity's dad came over to get his daughter.

"Come on Charity, it's time to go home."

"Okay daddy." Charity hopped up off the bench and walked over to her fathers' side. She turned back to Shelia then looked up at her dad. "Daddy? Do you have a pen?"

"It just so happens that I do." He said taking a pen out of his front pocket and handing it to his daughter. Charity walked back over to Shelia and grabbed her hand, starting to write on it.

"What are you doing?" Shelia asked.

"This is where my house is. If you are ever feeling sad or want to talk, just come over I'll listen… even if I don't understand what it is you're talking about." Then she leaned in closer to Shelia's ear. "I'll even have some ice cream to give you." She whispered with a little giggle before backing away. "Even if you aren't sad, I want you to come see me because you seem like a nice person and I like you." She said before walking back to her dad and handing him his pen back.

Shelia stood up. "I'll make sure I do just that." She said before turning to the little girls' father. "Of course, if that's all right with you."

"I'm sure it would be fine." Charity's dad said with a small smile. "Come on Charity let's get on home for dinner." He said turning away and beckoning his daughter to follow.

"Hold on daddy. Just one more thing." Charity started running back towards Shelia and gave her a great big bear hug. "Mommy also says that it's nice to give people hugs, especially when they need one." She said before letting go and running back towards her daddy. After taking his hand she turned around to look back at Shelia and waved. Shelia returned the wave with a smile, before sighing.

"I guess I should get back home too. I so do not want to have take out tonight." She said to herself as she started on her short trek home. Right now, she felt like she could take on anything, all because she was able to talk to someone and not only that, but have them believe every word she said. And there was something else too.

Despite hardly knowing anything about her at all besides the past three years of her life, that little girl had literally told her that she wanted to be her _friend_. Nobody had ever told her that before because they were all scared of her. The only ones that hung around her were only there for her money, and the fact that she was pretty was only the cherry on top of the sundae. But this little girl wanted to be her friend for _her_, not for the money, and that was something that Shelia could not deny, even it was being offered from a five year old.

Smiling genuinely for the first time in possibly year, Shelia made her way home.

**AN**: And here it is finally! Sorry it took so long to update.

This is just if you were wondering why I put the flashback in this chapter. It's mostly supposed to bring home just how tough of a girl she was when she was little and why other kids were so scared of her, which Shelia thinks of at the end of the chapter. It's also to show just how much Charity reminds Shelia of herself when she was little (at least physically) which I did bring out. Anyway, I don't know if that helped or any, so yea.

For the next chapter, I'm going to be starting it like a year and a half later from when this chapter takes place. I just thought I'd let you know that.

That's all till next time!


	6. Part 5 Relationship Between the Betweens

Decent Into Darkness: Chapter 5:

**Decent Into Darkness: Chapter 5: Relationship Between the Betweens**

Warm, hot, sizzling, blistering, scorching, humid… however you wanted to put it, that's what the mid-April day in Detroit was like, and it was just plain uncomfortable and unexpected. So much so, that neither younger brother or older sister felt much like doing anything but sit around the house staring at the television screen while the AC spent their money and the ceiling fans were turned on high trying to keep the house cool and comfortable.

Still, neither of the two siblings felt much like doing anything.

"Wanna go out and do something?" Shelia asked as she stared at the television.

"Not really." Melvin muttered.

"Good."

That was how most of the morning and afternoon had been: a few brief conversations with little speaking long periods of silence. Hector had been working and the twins at school all day. Neither would be home for a while though since once Weston and Wesley got out of school Hector was going to pick them up and take them out to the lake.

Once the reality of what was happening settled in, the number of fights and arguments started to lessen and lessen. Not that they didn't still happen, but with the help and reminders of a little girl, Shelia was able to keep herself in control and not lose it, which made everyone much happier all around.

That didn't mean that Shelia was pleased about what her life was turning to, and what it would become in a few short months. For one, she wasn't too thrilled that they would have to sell the house and live in the tower. If out of any of the five members of the remaining family, she was the one who least liked it; and if she were to guess, Melvin wouldn't be too far behind her. In the end though, they all agreed it would be for the best. Then there was another "brilliant" idea that Hector thought up: that they would go by secret identities. Her thought on that which she made very clear was that "it wouldn't really matter what name they went by. Everyone would still know them as the multicolored siblings with the freaky glowing abilities". Still though, Hector had remained adamant, and was to this day still trying to figure out names for them. Shelia could only hope they weren't something corny or out of a comic book that her older brother still loved to read so much. Oh, and then there was coming up with a team name, which had already been figured out. As much as Shelia hated to admit that she had contributed to the one thing that she had no interest in participating in, but it was the truth.

-- --

"We need a team name." Hector proclaimed out of absolutely no where as they ate dinner.

Everyone looked at him in confusion. "What?" Melvin asked.

"I've been thinking about it lately…"

"Oh great." Melvin muttered. "He's been _thinking_ again."

"…And I've decided that we need a name." he finished, shooting a glare towards Melvin who wasn't paying attention.

"That's a good idea!" exclaimed Weston.

Wesley finished his brothers' thought with, "Yea! All superheroes have team names!"

Shelia groaned. "Ugh, we're already related to each other, so what's the point in coming up with a team name? Hey, here's an idea," she added in a tone that implied she was just joking around. "what about Team Go." She laughed. "Now that would be different." She laughed some more to herself and continued eating until she noticed everyone at the table was staring at her.

"What?" she questioned with a mouthful of food.

"In your own witty way…" one twin started.

"…you gave your own opinion…." The other continued.

"… on a family matter that you have shown just as much dislike towards as _me_." Melvin finished.

Shelia's eyes went wide with astonishment and disbelief. "What!"

-- --

Shego shuddered at the memory. That was one event she would prefer forgetting. At least after two days they all let the matter go and stopped bugging her about it.

But that wasn't the only thing she had shown distaste… no, more like anxiety toward.

Hector had picked out the matching "costumes", as she preferred to call them, which everyone would be wearing. In her opinion, that was a bad thing, and she was dreading the day that they would be delivered and she would have to… wait, weren't they supposed to be coming in soon?

Shelia looked over at Melvin whose head was hanging off the back of the couch and his arm dangling from the armrest, the remote in the other hand that was lying on the cushion. Non-too gently, she kicked him in the side to wake him up.

Melvin sputtered and looked around as he jerked up, "Wha... what happened? What did I miss?" He saw Shelia and settled back down, glaring at her. "What was that for?"

"I had a question and you weren't awake." She answered in a 'matter of fact-ly" tone, shrugging her shoulders.

He rubbed at his side where his sister's foot had made contact. "Well, you could have done it a little more gently."

"No I couldn't." she grinned.

"Whatever. What did you want?" he said, turning his attention to the TV that was on the… _weather channel? _"OK, how did it get here?! We don't need a freakin' weather channel to figure out that it's **HOT **outside!"

"Don't ask me, you're the one with the remote." Shelia said. "Anyway, do you know when those costumes are supposed to be here? I remember Hector saying something about it but I don't remember when."

"What do I look like, his secretary?" Melvin looked over at his sister, who was arching her eyebrows at him. "You know what, he may tell me everything but that doesn't mean I listen to it." He said in an effort to defend himself. He turned back to the screen and continued flipping through the channels.

"That doesn't answer my que—"

_Ding dong_

Neither one moved nor a made a sound.

A few seconds later, "Aren't you going to get that?" came from Melvin.

"Uh, no, you are."

"Since when?"

"Since you asked me if I was going to get it, that's when."

"You can't do that!"

"I'm older, so yea, I can do that."

_Ding dong_

Melvin crossed his arms around his chest. "I am not getting it. You can't make me."

"You wanna bet?" Shelia said holding up a glowing hand.

Melvin muttered to himself and got up, muttering along the way. Shelia grinned in satisfaction. "That's what I thought." She called out.

A minute or two later Melvin came back with a box in his arms. He dropped it in his sisters lap before sitting back down and flipping through the channels. "There's your answer. Happy now?"

Shelia analyzed the postage sticker before saying, "No, I'm not happy. I'm scared of what I might find inside."

"You're not telling me that _you_ are _scared_ of a few pieces of harmless fabric are you?" Melvin asked unsure of whether he wanted to laugh or be shocked. "The sister I grew up knowing as being the one to scare other people by just walking down the hall at school? You're kidding me right?" This time he decided he wanted to laugh. "What's the word for it… ion—no, ino—"

"Irony?" Shelia offered."

"Yea, that. Talk about irony!" he continued laughing.

Shelia narrowed her eyes at her younger brother. "Fine then. If it's not such a big deal, go try on what's in there." She said tossing the light-weighted box at him.

At that suggestion he immediately stopped and stared at his sister as if she was crazy, which at that moment, was exactly what he was thinking. "You're kidding right? You want me to put on whatever disaster is in the box?"

"Well, I figured that since you can't see why I'm so scared of opening it, I thought you'd like to prove that it's not really a big deal." She replied innocently. "And I still want you to." She added with a smile.

"What! This is so not fair! How is it that I have to do everything while you get to sit around and watch?" Melvin exclaimed incredibly. "No, I am not falling for this twice in ten minutes. If I have to try it on, then so do you."

Once it was clear that Melvin wasn't going to waver any in his decision, Shelia gave in. Besides, it was turning into something like a little kid argument over a toy. "Fine, I'll try mine on too. But first, one of us has to open the box."

Melvin uncrossed his arms and shrugged. "Why don't you just use your powers and burn it open?"

Shelia's nose scrunched up and her mouth fell slightly open in disbelief. She reached over and knocked her fist on his forehead a couple of times. "Hello! That would burn up the costumes too."

"Exactly." He grinned.

A mischievous smile formed on Shelia's mouth and she raised an eyebrow. She nodded her head slowly up and down approvingly. "I like how you think." Getting up she added. "Now come on, let's go try these things on."

-- --

"This is—"

"—an outrageously stand-outish, confusing to the eye, so tight you can hards breathe jumpsuit?"

"Not what I was going to say, but yes."

"What were you going to say?"

"Hideous."

Shelia nodded her acknowledgement. "I can see where you're coming from Mel, but it could be worse. I mean considering Hector picked these out this would be a step up for him."

"How so?" Melvin questioned, even though he had an idea of what his sister had in mind.

"Well, he could have gone the superman route and got us capes with the tights and underwear worn on the outside."

"Ok, I guess you're right. But that doesn't mean I have to like it." He looked down at his foot and pointed at it. "And what's with the pouch? What use am I going to get out of it, huh?"

Shelia twisted her leg and looked down at the object of her brother's consternation. "I don't know… I kind of like it. It just seems to fit." She looked back at Melvin who was rolling his eyes.

"Yea, sure it 'fits'" he said sarcastically. "Really, if you ask me, it's pointless."

"It's all a matter of opinion."

Melvin balled up his fist and glared at Shelia. "Will you stop contradicting me!"

"No." Shelia answered, not doing anything to suppress her smile.

"And why not?" Melvin asked getting more frustrated since he wasn't getting his way again today, which made him turn a darker purple instead of the red that a normal skinned person would have.

In turn, this made Shelia laugh. "Because you look funny whenever you get mad."

Still miffed, he moved on, trying to ignore Shelia's chuckles. "I still think this costume is hideous."

"Melvin, it wouldn't matter what Hector chose. You'd still think it was hideous." Shelia put in exasperatedly.

"Exactly! Now if he'd let _me_ choose, I wouldn't be complaining and we'd look a heck of a lot better!"

"Oh, like we haven't heard that one before." Shelia muttered to herself glancing out the window.

"What was that?"

"Huh? Oh…I said it looks like it's twenty until four." Shelia said quickly, not caring that it was really about four thirty. She grinned inwardly as she watched her younger brother search around the room for some sort of time telling device, and knowing where he was going to go to find one.

"How did you know that?" he asked, not expecting an answer as he left the guest bedroom downstairs and into the kitchen to look at the digital clock on the stove. "What are you talking about? It's not twenty till four, it's –"

The door that went from the kitchen to the garage opened, and Shelia began counting down from three, and was right on cue.

"Hey look, the costumes came in!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Amused, Shelia watched from the doorway as Melvin went running down the hall screaming, finally stopping when he slammed the door shut behind him. In a way, she felt kind of bad, but there was no way she could pass up getting the chance to humiliate Melvin in front of his own brothers while wearing the so-called hideous suit.

She went down the hall and lightly knocked on the bathroom door that Melvin had locked him self in. "Hey, just wanted to let you know there's no need to thank me. It was my pleasure to embarrass you." Shelia couldn't help but laugh a little at the angry groan that came from the other side of the door before going up to her room.

-- --

**AN: **hope you liked this one and maybe found it a little funny. I just had to do one chapter in this story that was between Mego and Shego and their relationship as bro/sis. Hope you like the turn out.

It may be a while until I update this story again because I have a lot of other things I want to get finished right now.


	7. Part 6 Moving Insecurities

Decent Into Darkness

**Decent Into Darkness**

**Chapter 6: Moving Insecurities**

_Shelia looked around in awe as she passed through the front door holding her mother's hand. The house she had just entered with her parents and two brothers, the house that she would be moving into sometime in the next week, was huge… at least to her four year old mind. Of course, once all the furniture was moved in, it wouldn't seem as huge, but it would still be plenty spacious. _

_But that didn't matter to Shelia. All that was on her mind was that it was roomy, brand new, and that she would finally have her own room. Put all that together, and you have one very excited kid__on your hands._

_Shelia jumped up and down, tugging on her mother's arm, pulling her towards the direction of the stairs as her parents looked around at the kitchen. "Mommy! Mommy! I wanna go see my new room! Come on!" _

"_Okay, hold on sweetie. We'll go see your room in a minute." Her mother tried to calm her daughter down before turning her attention back to the stained glass wooden framed cabinets (what's the big deal about how a cabinet looks anyway?)._

"_But mooommmmy, I wanna go nooooowwwww." Shelia pouted, to which her mother relented._

"_Ok, let's go see your new room."_

"_Yay!" the three foot five inch cutie pie cheered dragging her mommy up the stairs to where her room was._

_On her door hung a custom made wooden sign that spelled out her name in big curly letters. It was painted white with a light green around the perimeter of it. It hung on the door by a brown ribbon that had been laced through two holes on the first and last letter of her name._

"_Look mommy, that's my name!" Shelia exclaimed pointing at the sign on her door. _

"_Yes, it is your name."_

_Satisfied by her mother's acknowledgment of the pretty sign that spelled out her name, Shelia reached for the knob and twisted it, pushing the door open to reveal her 'very own new room', which is how she had described it prior to the current visit._

_As she took a look around her new room for the first time, Shelia's little mouth gapped open in a way that most would find absolutely adorable for someone her age. It was only seconds later that she was running and skipping about her empty room, squealing with delight. _

_The room was painted a simple light green. The floor was covered in shaggy brown carpet and from the ceiling hung a ceiling fan made brass and wood. On the wall adjacent to the door was the window, which, when you looked at it from outside in the backyard, stuck out to allow for a built in sitting area. Shelia crawled up onto that and pressed herself against the window, looking down below. Then she turned around and sat down, letting her feet dangle over the edge. On her face was a huge smile._

"_I never wanna leave this house! I wanna stay here and have my room forever!"_

--

Eighteen years later, Shelia was sitting at that very same place looking out the window, down at the tree that had changed the remainder of her life a little over four years ago.

So much had changed since that night that seemed so far away now. The tests and travels around the world to figure out what had happened to herself and her siblings; the media that at one point seemed would never leave them alone; her parents leaving them behind when they were needed the most; finally starting college; taking care of her broken family…

One event seemed to lead to another, and now Shelia found herself in the room that she had once proclaimed she would never leave.

Shelia sighed. "So much for staying here forever."

She knew it sounded ridiculous, especially coming from her: the tough girl of the family, the rock that kept everyone else grounded, the woman who was not afraid to stand up for herself. Who would expect that kind of person to become emotional over leaving a childhood home?

Not many.

It wasn't like she planned to live in the house forever anyway. Heck, she would have already been gone if things hadn't taken a turn for the worse. Staying was just unreasonable. Everyone had to move on eventually, and that meant leaving behind a home that you grew up in.

Besides, all little kids said stuff like that. Doesn't mean it's going to be true.

But none of that answered why she was feeling the way she was. Truthfully, she thought she should feel joyous about leaving behind the place that held so many bad memories. She'd be able to leave them in the past and get on with her life. That wasn't so though… or maybe it was, it was just being obscured by something else.

Melvin's less than enthusiastic voice interrupted her thoughts.

"You ready to go yet? We're all waiting for you so we can go."

That was another thing that bugged her. It seemed that she was the only one having this issue… or insecurity.

She really wanted to talk to someone before she lost it. It was a Saturday, so…

Shelia looked over at her brother. "Go ahead. I'll catch up to you guys later. I need to go see someone."

"Whatever." Melvin shrugged, tossed her the key he had used to get inside, and left her alone. Moments later she heard the front door shut.

Shelia stared out the window for a few more minutes before heading out herself. Before closing the front door for the last time, she looked around at the empty space and sighed.

"Goodbye." She said quietly to herself, and then she closed and locked the door.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

Shelia sighed. "You don't understand a thing I'm talking about do you?"

Charity shook her head. "No. Well, yea. I sort of do."

"What do you mean by 'sort of'?"

"Well, it's like…" The little girl thought for a moment, holding a finger up on her chin. "I've never moved before. This has always been my home. And I'm not you either. But I try to imagine how I would feel if I did have to move away from home so I can sort of get what you're talking about."

Shelia blinked. "You know, most six and a half year olds would be totally clueless about the things I've told you."

Charity grinned. "My mommy and daddy and teacher always say I'm smart."

A corner of Shelia's mouth curled up in a half smile. The kid was cute… and smart. Smarter than she was at times. It was because of the little girl sitting next to her that she had been inspired to get into child development. She knew from personal experience that not all little kids were as sweet and kind as Charity, but for the few that were, considering that area as a career would be worth it.

"Well, if you're as smart as they say, do you think you can figure out my problem?" Shelia asked playfully.

"I can try." Charity said excitedly. "Let's see… you did say that you were happy to leave the past behind, right?"

"Yea." Shelia nodded.

"Why?"

"I've told you what my past is like. I know I have."

"I know you have too, but what about it are you happy to leave?"

Shelia took in a breath and let it out. "That place is where my life changed forever. New responsibilities were forced on me; like my powers, taking care of my family… when they should have taken care of themselves. I had to grow up a lot sooner than I wanted to… than I should have."

"I don't really know what's so bad about growing up. That's all I want to do!" The little girl exclaimed, going off subject.

Shelia shook her head. "I know you probably hear this all the time Charity, but growing up isn't as fun as you think it is. You need to enjoy the freedom you have as a kid because one day, it's going to be gone and you'll wonder where the time went."

Charity let out an exasperated sigh. "Mommy and daddy always tell me that, but I don't believe it. But since you said it, I'll _think_ about it."

"That's all I ask." Actually it wasn't, but it just seemed like the better thing to say.

"Ok, so you want to leave the past behind. Could it be you're afraid of what you're heading to?"

Shelia eyed the little girl suspiciously. "Are you sure your not some psychologist or something?"

Charity looked at her funny. "I don't even know what a psy… what that is."

"It's a…" Shelia thought better of it. They were getting off subject anyhow. "What do you mean by 'scared of what I'm heading to'?"

"Well, you're not scared of the past, so maybe you're scared of the future?" She said, sounding as if even she was confused by what she was saying.

"Care to expand on that kid?"

"Well, you've said before that you didn't want to be a hero… and that you didn't like your powers. Why you don't want to be a hero I've never understood by the way…" 

"It's complicated."

Charity shrugged and continued. "But that's the life you're walking right into: the life of a hero where you use your powers to save the world."

"Yea…" Shelia held out. "We're not going worldwide Charity. What we're doing is purely local. I made sure of that a while ago."

"Okay then. Save the city. But that doesn't change what I said."

Shelia thought about what Charity had suggested. The more she did, the more it made sense. And the more it made sense, the more she wanted to know what she was supposed to do about it. She didn't expect a little girl to know the answer to that, but she found herself asking anyway.

"So, what do I do?"

Charity bit her bottom lip. "Hold on." And she went off into another room. A few moments later she came back with two wrappers in her hands. She sat back down beside Shelia.

"Which on do you want? I'll take whatever you don't want."

Shelia noticed that the wrappers Charity had brought back into the living room were Drumsticks. One of them was regular and the other one had a caramel filling. She took the one with caramel.

"So, how does ice cream answer to my question?" Shelia asked once she had handed back Charity's after opening it for her.

"It doesn't." was the simple reply. "But I wanted one so I got one for you as well."

Shelia shrugged. She'd take free ice cream any day.

"There's only one thing." Charity said.

"What's that?"

"Mommy says we have to eat these at the table. They can get messy and she doesn't want the furniture to get stained."

Shelia grinned. "Then I guess we should go over there then. We wouldn't want to get mommy mad." She said, getting up and following her younger friend to the table.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

_Short, yes I know. But I got to the point I wanted to in this chapter. _

_There should be no more than five chapters left for this story. I can't really say for sure right now. It may be less. _

_Questions? Comments? Concerns? Feel free to leave one._


	8. Part 7 Fire in the Hole

OK everybody. I don't know if you saw what I mentioned at the end of the last chapter about there being "no more than five chapters". I take it back for now. I may need at least one more than I thought.

Not that it really matters… just FYI.

I own nada.

With no further ado, here's the next chapter.

------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------- -------

Chapter Seven- Fire in the Hole

The daily life of a hero wasn't really as exciting as some may imagine it to be. It honestly wasn't any different from an ordinary person. When not out doing their duty, heroes had responsibilities to take care of as well. They didn't just magically go away, nor were you given extra time in the day to get those things done. Heroes were only human, living by the same clock as everyone else, having the same necessities as everyone else. Pursuing a life of heroism guaranteed nothing in regards to the freedom from such things. In fact, it offered just the opposite.

It was around eight thirty in the morning. In four hours, Shelia had to show up at Charity's school to help out, and then stay the rest of the day to take her home. It would take nearly an hour just to get to the elementary school.

This time crunch was exactly why Shelia was a bit more… touchy.

She silently made her way into the base of the Go Tower. As soon as the doors whooshed closed behind her, she growled, "This had better be good."

"So the lioness decided to join us? It's about time." Melvin muttered.

Shelia shot a glare at her younger brother. "Don't even start with me. I'm not in the mood."

"Whatever. I just don't think it's fair for the rest of us to have to wait for you. It's not like you want to be here, so why waste our time… mine in particular?"

A growl escaped from her throat. "I told you not to start with me."

Hector interfered. "Hey now, let's not start something. We've got other issues to handle first. And besides, we're a team. We work together."

When Shelia didn't move, "Shelia, please?"

She let out another low growl before turning away from Melvin, who seemed completely oblivious to the threat of bodily injury that had been hanging over him a moment ago. _Must have stayed up half the night again_, Shelia concluded. After reluctantly admitting that there were more important matters to take care, Shelia sat down in her designated green chair. Attacking her brother would only add more tension to her already tight schedule.

"This had better be good." She repeated.

"Of course it is. Anything we can do to protect society is a good thing." Hector assured.

"It's fun too!" Wendell and Weston, who had been observing their older siblings quietly, chipped in.

And of course, Melvin had to put in his two cents. "Fun? Ha! This is work, and work is not fun." He turned to Hector. "You're a bad influence on them, teaching the twins that work is 'fun'. Being a hero is serious work, and if _I_ were leader they'd know that by now."

"It's always important to view even the most exertive activities as positively as possible." Hector countered.

Shelia banged her fist on the table like a gavel. "Guys, focus!"

They did… momentarily.

"He started it." Melvin leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not"

"Did too."

"Not."

"Too."

"No—"

Shelia closed her eyes and groaned. They were wasting time with their petty arguments." Will both of you please, just shut up!"

Finally, they obeyed.

Annoyed, she turned to Hector. "Please," she said through gritted teeth, "let's get back to the matter at hand."

"Right, yes," Hector cleared his throat. He quickly pressed a button on the table. On the large screen above, information on the villain, rebel, criminal, or whatever and the latest picture of the person in question appeared.

"Matthew Brody, age thirty three. A former Calculus professor, who's last public appearance was two years ago trying to receive fundage from the city for his unethical mathematical experiments. When denied this, he stormed out, proclaiming, 'I will show you all! You will rue the day I come back and prove you all wrong!' states one nearby witness. He had never been seen since." Hector read off of a sheet of paper in a yellow file folder.

"So I'm wasting my time over a twisted math freak. Wonderful." Shelia said disgustedly, and then sighed. "Ok, unethical. What did they mean by that? Does it say?"

"Nothing good, that's what it means," Melvin said.

"No, really?" Shelia retorted. "Seriously Melvin, if you don't have something worthwhile to say, then just don't say anything."

He snorted. "Whatever."

Shelia rolled her eyes. "Hector, you got anything?"

"Not really. It was two years ago and it seemed relatively insignificant at the time. Nobody really remembered exactly what it was he was experimenting... or rather, hoping to experiment."

"They remember a stupid quote, yet they don't bother to remember the more important info." Shelia muttered to herself. "They didn't even document it?" she asked.

"Nope. Like I said, it seemed relatively insignificant. Nobody put stock into anything he said because it just seemed unrealistic."

Shelia closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her self. "Okay then. We have a math freak on the loose with unknown technology on his hands. I'm assuming that he is following through with his 'rue the day' speech and all… correct?"

"Yes."

"Okay guys; let's go get this over with." Shelia got up and headed for the terminal at the top of the tower. Why it was all the way up there was beyond her. It was inconvenient having their only source of quick transportation at the opposite end from the team headquarters. It made her wonder who drew out the architectural layout of the place.

"Yes! We're going on the jet!" The twins cheered.

Ugh, that monstrosity of an aircraft. It wasn't so much that it didn't fly well as it was ugly. The multicolor deal was just too much for her. But the majority vote had won... the 'for' voters being of course, Hector and then Wendell and Weston. Melvin had argued that the twins vote shouldn't have counted because they were too young to understand, but Hector had came back with his 'team' speech and the issue was closed. After all, the leaders' word was law… sometimes. The only thing that bugged Shelia was that she was the only one qualified enough to fly…or rather, didn't trust anyone else to fly it if she had to be a passenger.

But she had just over three hours to get this whole ordeal dealt with, so she set her issues aside and focused on getting the job done instead.

--

**Go City Hall- 9:00 a.m.**

"Hahahahah! I told you I'd be back!" An orange haired man laughed manically.

The people were hiding, running, and screaming. Some looked on at the spectacle in confusion, having no idea what the heck was going on. Of course, once they had observed what the strange man had done, they were no better off than the rest. Then there were also those who were captured by the villains' two sidekicks who had no place to go too.

"H…how did you do that?" asked a random person hiding behind a desk.

"Oh, this you mean?" asked the man, who then pointed his remote type ray thingy in the direction of the person. With the press of a button, a beam shot out and the person screamed and ducked behind the desk. The beam of light enveloped the desk for a few seconds before the desk and all its contents vanished, revealing the cowering person who, as soon as recognizing what had happened, ran for another cover.

"This is just a little thing I call an anti-matter ray. With just a push of this button here," he aimed it at the large double doors while looking back at his audience. "I can subtract anything I want to my pleasure. And there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

"Hey look!" One of the captured people pointed towards where the doors used to be. "It's Team Go! We're saved!"

Everyone looked in the direction the person had been pointing. Sure enough, the five shadows of the city's heroes were standing there. They stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the building.

"Ah, Team Go, the towns matchless mutant superheroes. We finally meet."

"Mutant," Melvin scoffed. "Yea, like we haven't heard that one before."

"Melvin…" Shelia growled through her teeth.

"Yea, yea, I know. I'm shutting up now."

"Good, your learning." Shelia turned back to the situation at hand. Nobody had noticed the brief exchange.

"Mr. Brody," Hector began. "Your brief rampage among the innocent citizens of our fair city is at an end. You may either come with us in peace, or we will be required to use force against you."

Shelia fought the urge to bring her hand to her face. Melvin however did not have the control to keep from saying what was on his mind, as was usually the case.

"That was totally overdone. I bet anyone in here could tell that he thought that whole speech out beforehand."

The orange haired man chortled. "How cute. You think I'm going to come with you without a fight. Oh, and I no longer go by Matthew Brody anymore. Now, I am the Mathter! Now allow me to introduce you to my anti-matter ray!" And he aimed his invention at Melvin. The beam shot out, but Melvin shrunk just in time to miss it. When it hit the plant behind them, it vanished into thin air.

"So that's what was meant by unethical." Hector observed.

"Nobody could remember something as bizarre as anti-matter?" Shelia exclaimed. "What is wrong with you people?"

"What the heck! What was that for? I didn't do anything to deserve to go poof!" Melvin cried out.

"Guys, look out!" Wendell and Weston shouted just as the Mathter fired his new toy again. They all jumped out of the way just as it hit the floor and the polished tiling disappeared from underneath everyone. Some fell over onto the concrete foundation.

Shelia quickly turned to the twins. "Get everybody out of her. We'll take care of math freak and his guys." She ordered them.

"On it!" They multiplied and were off.

The Mathter was now shooting at everything he could possibly find. One of the beams shot outside hitting a statue of the city's founder. Hector was trying to take care of that issue, but the sidekicks were advancing up on him. Melvin was still standing dumbfounded, still in disbelief at how close he had come to going 'poof'.

"Yo," Shelia called out, "instead of standing there like an idiot why don't you help me." She suggested. However, Melvin knew it was more of a command.

He shook his head and glared at her momentarily, but just quickly pushed his annoyance aside. "What do you need me for?"

She nodded at the two hoodlums. "Do something to distract them. Then I'll come in and finish it off."

"Why don't you just take care of them yourself? It doesn't look like they'd put up much of a fight."

"You don't think I know that? Just do it. It'll give you something to do."

He rolled his eyes ran up behind them, shrinking himself along the way. Once he came up behind the two he grew back to normal size. But one of them caught his shadow and jumped, hitting Melvin in the stomach with his elbow. Melvin doubled over. Shelia groaned and rolled her eyes. _Must I do everything myself? _

Shelia jumped and flipped in mid-air, landing in front of the two stunned goons, hands aglow and eyes narrowed. She smirked at the terrified looks on their faces. She loved being able to scare people like that. "You boys ready to go nighty-night?" she taunted.

There terror lasted only a few moments before gradually growing into a more… appreciative expression. It didn't take Shelia long to figure out that it was her they were admiring… in her form-fitting jumpsuit. She growled and her glow burned brighter.

"Hey hot stuff," the chubbier one said. "Are you into the bad boy type… cause if you are, I'm available." He leered.

Melvin, who had managed to get himself upright, witnessed this and stared wide eyed. There were no words for the majorly stupid mistake the poor guy had made. He also caught his sisters' expression. "Oh God," he murmured before running away as quickly as he could, not bothering to save anybody but himself.

"You've got a lot of nerve there buddy." Shelia snarled.

And with that, the storm was unleashed.

--

**Outside Go City Hall- 9:30 a.m.**

Between the whack math villain's new (now destroyed) toy and Shelia's destructive power, all that was left of the city hall was the barely standing walls. It wasn't strong enough to filter outside, but had you gone inside it would seem you had walked into a light fog.

Shelia was now sitting on the stone planter boxes, staring out at the commotion before her. Hardly anyone came within a ten foot radius of her, and if they did she shot a glare at them. She was not in a mood to deal with anybody at the moment… especially not the media. Let her brothers' deal with the pesky info-suckers.

Various news trucks, police cars, two fire trucks, and an ambulance were parked out on the curb, some of the news trucks were on the grass.

A gurney being pushed hastily towards the ambulance rushed passed her. Shelia watched as the sidekick she had taken out nearly fifteen minutes ago was put in the back of the vehicle and rushed to the hospital. She felt that she should feel guilty for what she had done, but the truth was she just felt no pity for the guy. From her perspective, he had it coming for him. Shelia knew that that line of reasoning was wrong on multiple levels, but for some reason she couldn't find it in herself to care.

A broad shadow cast upon her and she looked up… and growled. "Leave me alone, Hector. I'm not in the mood for your little pep talk. I know I messed up. I'm sorry. Can we just move on?"

"Shelia, this is serious. Innocent people could have been hurt today because of your little… fit."

She wasn't even bothering to look up at him, preferring the scenery before her. "Nobody did." She countered.

Hector sighed. "Fortunately, but that's not it."

Shelia rolled her eyes. "Of course it's not. It never is." She stood up and looked her brother in the eye. "Let me take a guess at what you're planning on dishing out to me. 'This affects the image of the whole team… not just me.' I know that already. But guess what, nobody but you, the wannabe bad guys, and a few workers running for escape were there to witness it. To the rest of the world it's going to seem as if what I did was a good thing. 'But the damages you've caused are going to cost money to repair.' You wanna know something? Had I not done anything, the price could have been a lot worse thanks to that math freak. He could have made the whole building disappear. All I did was put a few scorch marks on the walls, knock a baddie unconscious, crack a few of another one's ribs, and smash a few replaceable valuables. But that's not going to affect us at all. Heck, we're being _paid_ for stopping the bad guys. Nobody _cares_ how we stop them! 'The public setting is not a place to settle personal issues.' Well, that's partly you're fault. Had you not gotten these stupid skin tight cat suits, then that guy wouldn't have made a move on me and I wouldn't have lost it and we wouldn't be having this discussion right now!" Shelia's voice had risen to a scream, and was standing on her tip toes to be at eye level with Hector by the time she was finished with her speech. Once finished, she relaxed. "Does that cover it?"

Hector could only bring himself to nod.

"Good." She started towards the jet.

"Where are you going?" Hector called after her.

Shelia kept walking. "I've got plans. I need to go."

"But we need the jet to get back to the tower."

"Chill, okay? I'm only going to change into my normal clothes that I stashed in there this morning. I'm gonna catch a taxi and I'll be out of your hair till tomorrow."

"Where are you going to be?"

She turned her neck to look back at him. "With Charity." And she resumed her trek to the jet.

Hector understood, and without a word went to join the rest of the team.

--

It was close to eleven when the taxi pulled up to the elementary school. She paid the driver and quickly made her way to the office. Aside from a few renovations, the school that she and all of her brothers' had at one point attended was exactly the same as it had always been.

Since the episode a little over an hour ago, Shelia's mood had taken a considerable turn. A few minutes into the ride to the school and she had been able to calm herself down to the point where she was presentable enough to stand a crowd of first graders for the rest of the afternoon without losing it at even the tiniest mishap. She couldn't figure why, but the best guess she could come up with was that she was finally away from the crowds and the area of the incident. That wasn't to say she wasn't still upset about what had happened earlier though. She doubted that she would ever get over _that_ anytime soon.

Shelia walked through the door and was almost instantly met be a lady sitting behind a desk.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked politely.

"Umm, yea." Shelia said, recalling the procedure that she had learned whenever she helped out in Wendell and Weston's classes so many years ago. "I'm here to help out in a friends' class."

The lady pushed a clipboard forward. "Just sign your name here and put the date and time."

Shelia did so. When she set the pen down she was handed a visitors sticker. "Do you need any help finding the class?" She asked.

"No thank you." Shelia shook her head, and pushed her way onward. She didn't need any help finding where her old classroom used to be. She thought it sort of odd when Charity had first told her, but later had considered it a mere happenstance. The only thing that would have been queer about it was if she had the same teacher, but she didn't. Shelia had made sure of that. That reunion would have been just a bit awkward.

The door to the class was open. That was good. It allowed Shelia to go into the class without being a distraction… at least until the teacher noticed her. But she did so suavely that none of the kids saw her quick glance towards Shelia before returning to her lesson.

Shelia hung out in the back, looking back and forth between the kids and the math lesson their teacher was giving them. In the five minutes that passed she had been able to easily spot Charity. After all, not many little girls had thick, voluminous black hair. Some of the kids had caught sight of her when looking up at the clock and stared at her curiously, but with a quick motion from Shelia to look up at the teacher, they took there attention away from her and turned it to where it was supposed to be.

Before she knew it, the teacher, , Charity had told her previous to her visit, called on Charity. "Would you like to introduce us to your friend?"

Charity looked to the back of the class where the teacher had nodded and grinned. She quickly got up and ran over to Shelia, grabbing her hand. "You came!"

"Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?" Shelia asked as Charity pulled her forward.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I thought you may have been too busy to come."

They reached the front of the class before Shelia could say anything more.

The class stared quietly at Shelia, and then with a suddenness that could be likened to being hit by a freight train, questions and comments burst forth from their tiny mouths.

"I've seen you on TV!"

"Are you the one those peoples with the cool superpowers?"

"How old are you?"

"You look green!"

"What superpower do you have?"

"Why is your skin a weird color?"

The teacher's voice rose over all the kids. "Class, its Charity's turn to talk. You can ask questions after she's done." She turned to Charity. "Go ahead.

With a grin on her face, Charity looked out at all her classmates. "This is my friend, Shelia. She's going to help out in our class today."

Shelia gave a small smile and wave. "Hey."

"Hello, Shelia." The class chorused.

"_Now_ you can ask questions." Charity said to all of her friends.

And so began Shelia's visit. The entire next hour was spent answering the question of the curious six and seven year olds. By the end of that hour, it was lunch time, allowing Shelia some time to revive herself.

--

About forty five minutes after the class had been dismissed for their lunch hour, Shelia and Rachel, whom the teacher had advised Shelia to call her, arrived back at the school from having lunch themselves. They had only fifteen minutes until class would start up again.

"While I still have the chance," Rachel began after setting her things down on her desk. "I just wanted to say thank you for coming here today. I know it must be hard for you to find the free time with the heroism stuff and all."

"Yea, it is." Shelia agreed. "In fact, I came here straight from 'doing my part' for society."

"Hmm." Rachel mused. "Well, thank you nonetheless. I know that Charity really appreciates it. She couldn't stop talking about it at all this week."

Shelia chuckled. "I'm not surprised. She tends to get really excited whenever I'm around. At least it seems that way. I don't see her everyday. It just seems like that whenever I am with her."

Rachel looked Shelia over for a moment. "You don't get it do you?"

"Get what?"

"How much she adores you." She said, sounding sincere. "I apologize if I'm being forward, but you don't really understand how much Charity looks up to you, do you?"

_What?_

Shelia's surprised expression encouraged Rachel to keep going. "Here. Let me show you some of the projects she's done." And she went over to a cabinet with the number seven on it and took a few things out of it. She set the projects down on the counter and motioned for Shelia to come over… which she did.

"These are some of the things Charity's done." Rachel picked up the first one on the pile. "This one here was the first project the class did. The class was supposed to write about the best thing that happened to them." She handed Shelia the sheet of paper and let her read the short paragraph.

"Last Febuary I met my noo frend. Her name is Shelia. Shes not little like me tho. Shes 23 years old. She is very nice, even if she says peeple are scared of her. I think she just wanted to talk to somebody, or maybe have a frend. Maybe both. Shes diferent to and maybe thats why peeple are scared of her. But that did not scare me. Now that im around, shes happyer and im happy its because I wanted to be her frend.'

Shelia turned the paper over as soon as she finished reading. There, she saw a picture of herself sitting on a bench with a frown and Charity sitting next to her offering her ice cream cone. The part of her mind that wasn't totally taken aback by this oncoming revelation allowed for the corner of her mouth to curl up into a smile. That was one of Shelia's favorite days as well. One that she would never forget.

Finally, she found it in herself to hand the paper back. "Wow. She's a really good writer… for a seven year old I mean."

"Yes, she is." Rachel agreed, smiling warmly. She took the paper and handed Shelia another one. "This one is more recent. They were writing about their personal hero."

Shelia choked. She never liked to consider herself a hero. In her mind, she didn't feel like she matched up with the definition of hero, despite what everyone else said. Not willing to believe it until she saw it with her own eyes, Shelia took the second paper from Rachel's hand and read what it said.

'My best friend Shelia is my hero. She dus have super powers like the heros on tv, but thats not how shes my hero. She has been on tv though. Shelias told me lots of stuff about her past and wat shes had to go threw. When I listen to her stories I can't imagin ever being able to go threw those things myself. Thats why shes my hero. Because shes strong enouf and brave enouf to make it threw her problems, and I hope that one day I'll be able to do that to.'

Crying was not something Shelia was used to doing, especially not in front of others. The last time she could remember crying was the morning she found out her parents had left. But that time had been more out of anger. This time it was out of shock and disbelief.

Shelia set the paper down quickly and tried to nonchalantly wipe her eyes. "Umm… I'll be back in a minute. I've uhh… got something in my eye." And she ran out of the room.

Fortunately, nobody was in the immediate are of the bathrooms. The last thing she wanted was a hord of kids crowding around her wondering what was wrong. Now there was something interesting to tell your parents about when they asked you 'what happened at school today'. Hastily, before anybody could take any notice she was there, she ran into the bathroom and to the sink. She turned the water on and threw it on her face a few times. After that she grabbed a few paper towels and dried off her face, looking in the mirror. That's when she saw she wasn't alone.

"What are you doing here Charity?"

"I was going to ask you that." She said. "But I saw you running in here and wanted to see what was going on. What's wrong?" Concern was etched in her big brown eyes.

Shelia shook her head. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine now." She smiled.

Charity cocked her head to the side. "Then what _was_ wrong?"

Shelia sighed. Why did she have to be such a clever little thing? "I was just a little… overwhelmed is all. Seriously, I'm fine." She looked down at Charity for a moment and crouched down. "Would you come here, please?"

She did, and Shelia instantly took her up in a bear hug, burying her face in Charity's thick hair. A minute or so passed when she whispered into her ear, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

Shelia held the little girl away from her, but kept her hands on both her shoulders. "Your teacher showed me some of the writing you've done." She said indirectly. Charity would get it though, Shelia was sure of that.

And after thinking about it for a few seconds, she did. "I thought it was obvious."

Shelia shook her head and looked Charity in the eyes. "Not to me. Now don't think I expected you to figure this out on your own, but I'm not used to people thinking those sorts of things about me. And it doesn't help that I don't see myself in those ways either. Next time, a little insight would be nice, okay?"

Charity eagerly shook her head. "Okay."

Then the bell rang.

Shelia looked outside. "You should go join your class, kiddo. I'll see you in a bit."

Charity gave a quick nod and ran off. Shelia went back to the room, feeling a lot better than she had in a long time.

--

**AN**: Yes, everybody, I'm still alive. You can relax now.

Hehe. Sorry about the long wait. Things kept getting in the way and for a while I had no idea what I wanted to do with this chapter. But it's up now so… well, it's up now.

Shelia's helping out in Charity's class is what actually got me started on this chapter. From there I just added on the first half of the story since I was pretty much set in stone on doing that in this chapter. Anyway, I'm not sure how well I handled the scene just before Shelia goes berserk… or after that for that matter. Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough.

The point behind the scene between Shelia and Rachel (btw, Mrs. McCaughtry/Rachel was my first grade teacher, that's where I got the name) where Shelia is shown Charity's writings and then after that in the bathroom was meant to strengthen the bond between the two, and make it harder on Shelia (or Shego as she will go by by the end of the story) at the end. That's pretty much why I put it in.

Umm… any questions, comments, or concerns… well you know what to do.

Until next time—whenever that will be???


End file.
